Art for Art's Sake

The desert is forbidden no more

Among our summer rituals is re-watching all 32 episodes of Gidget, the 1965 television series starring Sally Field. This year, we will also watch The Desert of Forbidden Art, and not just because it features narration by Miss Field.

The film, which is also voiced by Ben Kingsley and Ed Asner, combines narration with rare archival footage of the art rescued by young Igor Savitsky during the Soviet rule, when visual artists were routinely executed or sent to insane asylums. Desert tells of Savitskys discovery of an unknown school of artists whod settled in Uzbekistan after the Russian revolution of 1917. Their style, which combined modernism with centuries-old Eastern traditions, inspired him to rescue art by forbidden artists, and to keep art alive during oppressive times.